John 14:15, "If you love Me you will keep My commandments."

     Jesus used this statement many different ways through out this 14th chapter.  What we need to conclude from this is that keeping His commandments is identified with loving Him.  Let's take a closer look at this.  In the natural, in every day life, what is it that identifies love towards someone?  When someone says they love you, what is the qualifier?  In other words, what proves that statement to be true.  If someone tells you they love you but turns around and beats on you, is that statement of love proved to you?  If someone says they love you but they don't help you in your time of need, do they really love you?  The point is simple.  Love without any action is pretty much useless.  If I tell my wife I love her 20 times a day, but I'm not there to be with her when she needs me, do I really love her or do I just say words?  If I say I love her but I'm sleeping with someone else, is that love?  Jesus was telling us that He truly loves us, in fact His actions would prove it to every one of us.  For God so loved the world that He did what, He sent His Son to die for us.  In other words, our words are just that, words, unless they are backed up with actions.  Love is just something people say but Jesus wants to see something that proves that statement.  Now don't misunderstand, He will love us regardless.  He loves unconditionally.  But when we say that we love Him, He wants to see some kind of action that backs up that statement.  In other words, don't tell Him you love Him and then continue to live like hell all week.  The two don't match.  He simply says, " If you love Me prove it."   But, we say, " how do I prove it?"  Jesus simply answers back, "Obey My words."   It's pretty simple isn't it?  So the question today becomes a very simple one, "Do we really love Him?"  Then obey His commandments.  So today, if you love Him simply prove it!    God Bless,  Rusty

Genesis 12:8, "He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord”

     Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.
Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram “pitched his tent” between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time—there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must “pitch our tents” where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life—worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight. So why don't you get started right now?          God Bless,  Rusty

Matthew 4:23, "And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people."

     If you read the gospels you will see that there is a proper order to things.  Jesus always followed this pattern where ever He went.  He would first teach the word, preach the word, and then healing would take place.  It's very simple to understand, "Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God." (Romans 10:17)  He would always teach them first.  Why?  So that their faith could be built up to a point where they could receive the blessings of God into their life.  You see, every blessing in the word of God, and there are blessings inside the pages of God's precious word to cover any situation you'll ever run into in this life, comes through faith in the word.  From salvation, grace through faith, to any promise, they are all received by faith.  Faith comes from the word, and so, it only makes sense that He would have taught the word first.  It's also the reason that certain churches don't believe in certain things.  Because they were never taught them.  If I never teach someone about healing, how would I expect anyone to receive a healing?  If I never teach any one about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, how do I expect them to receive?  People will only be able to receive what they know, or have faith in.  That's why it's of the utmost importance today that we all study the word and get into the depths of our Father's word.  It has to be drank up to a point where we are so full that we have the faith to walk this life in the midst of persecutions and tribulations.  We must be the light and the salt in this world.  It's the only way we will win the world for Jesus.  So, if you don't make it a regular habit to study the word, it's time.  It's more important then ever before.  God needs us full of faith to bring in the end time harvest.  Are you ready?  He's waiting for us!     God Bless,  Rusty

Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve ” Jesus also said, “Yet I am among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27).

      Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s—“ ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called to be a “doormat” for others—called to be their spiritual leader, but never their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased ” (Philippians 4:12). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.
Paul’s understanding of how Christ had dealt with him is the secret behind his determination to serve others. “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man ” (1 Timothy 1:13). In other words, no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, they could never have treated him with the same degree of spite and hatred with which he had treated Jesus Christ. Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.     God Bless,  Rusty

Psalm 97:2, “Clouds and thick darkness surround Him ”

     A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. This is because that person merely has heard them with his head, or mind and not spirit.  But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him.”   When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet—getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God—it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Only after the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does, comes the impenetrable “darkness” of realizing who He is.
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Once, the Bible was just so many words to us—“clouds and darkness”—then, suddenly, the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us when our circumstances make the words new. That is the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way—words.     God Bless, Rusty

Galatians 6:10, "So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

     Let us continue to do good.  Even though the darkness comes in and the world seems to tighten her grip on us, we must never become self pitying.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the goings on of the week and we forget what we were commissioned to do.  Tell people about Jesus.  Sometimes this is just as simple as a smile or a kind word.  Sometimes it's something greater or even a sacrificial act.  It could be blessing someone to help them meet a need or simply telling them you love them.  No matter what the Spirit might lead you to do for others, we must keep a keen ear and be ready at all times.  We must especially be ready when it's all about us.  I remember a lady who was a shining example of the love of God.  She was in intensive Care, saddled with cancer and just hanging on.  The nurses couldn't believe it.  Every time they went to help her, and she was in a lot of pain, the woman would never talk about her pain.  She would complement the nurses on how fine a job they were doing and she would always tell them about Jesus.  Contrast that to the way we act when something trivial is going on in our lives and you'll get the picture.  I don't want to make light of those who are suffering through some major things in life at this moment, I've been there and there is a lot of pain and suffering sometimes.  But what a difference it would make in any situation if we were to just do something good for someone else in the midst of the fire.  A simple act to a brother or sister invites Jesus in and can change the very atmosphere.  His presence can change the outcome.  Just a small gesture, a soft touch, a kind word.  Don't stop the Lord form working through you today.  He needs you to touch His people.  Will you help?       God Bless,  Rusty

Matthew 20:28, "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

     Jesus made this statement after James' and John's mother asked for a position for her sons in Christ's kingdom.  We may kind of snicker over that one but we should be careful.  It's what lies deep in most of our hearts.  One of the problems I have in my ministry is other ministers.  I've had plenty come and want positions over the years, but none of them were willing to serve.  You see, I was raised up in the ministry by serving in almost every position in the church at one time or another.  My first ministry position, after retiring from the Navy with the highest rank I could achieve, was cleaning toilets and cutting grass.  I took it.  I thought I was Gomer Pyle.  What I mean was during those years the toilets in that church were the cleanest toilets in the whole world.  They were the cleanest because that's where I was needed.  Was I studying for the ministry, yes!  Was I witnessing to people every chance I got, yes!  But the task at hand that the Senior Pastor gave me to do was done with excellence.  Jesus said, "if you're faithful with the little, I will give you more."  So when someone comes to me and tells me they want to help I give them what I have at the church to do and ask them to do it to the best of their ability.  I tell them to take what ever God puts in front of them and do it for God, just like He was watching.  I tell them also to start studying and praying and learning.  Well, I lose most of them right off the bat!  The rest may stay for a short season and then want to preach every week.  I've never had anyone stay with me.  I served, studied and learned for eight years in the toilets before I got to preach my first time.  Jesus studied and prepared for close to 30 years.  Today, all you have to do is go to school and presto, you're a Pastor or a Priest or whatever.  No wander people in those positions usually wash out and even walk away from God during the first couple of years.  God doesn't want heroes, just servants.  Where are you serving?  We all need to serve somewhere, no matter how young or old.  It's our calling!  Serve someone today.  You'll be blessed that you did!       God Bless, Rusty

1 Kings 19:5, " There was an angel touching him, and he said to him, 'Arise and eat.”

     The angel in this passage did not give Elijah a vision, or explain the Scriptures to him, or do anything remarkable. He simply told Elijah to do a very ordinary thing, that is, to get up and eat. If we were never depressed, we would not be alive—only material things don’t suffer depression. If human beings were not capable of depression, we would have no capacity for happiness and exaltation. There are things in life that are designed to depress us, so whenever you examine yourself, always take into account your capacity for depression.  When the Spirit of God comes to us, He does not give us glorious visions, but He tells us to do the most ordinary things imaginable. Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things—things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there. The inspiration that comes to us in this way is an initiative against depression. But we must take the first step and do it in the inspiration of God.  If, however, we do something simply to overcome our depression, we will only deepen it.  But when the Spirit of God leads us instinctively to do something, the moment we do it the depression is gone.  As soon as we arise and obey, we enter a higher plane of life.               God Bless, Rusty

1Peter 2:24, " by His stripes we were healed."

     My wife and I have just come through one of the worst sicknesses I know that I have experienced in my whole life.  It was probably my wife's worst too but I just don't want to speak for her.  Every time symptoms left us, and we thought we were through it, the fever came back with new symptoms.  I thought we were good candidates for Dr. House.  So what did we think about God's healing power throughout this whole episode?  Did I ever think that God was allowing us to go through this to teach us something?  No, but I believe that I learned a lot about Him and my faith anyway.  Did I ever believe that God was not healing me because of something I did?  No, but I saw, in many situations, a lot of things that I could have done better, so I learned a lot about myself.  Did I think that God wasn't able to heal me or my wife?  No, not at all!  In fact every time someone called me, the one thing I always thought about and communicated was, "I'm sure glad the Healer's on our side!"  So what did I learn through all of this?  I'm not sure if I could pinpoint one thing.  But everyday my wife would be with me.  We talked and moaned and coughed together.  We laughed and cried and ate a whole box of chocolates together.  We called and talked to our kids everyday at least once, sometimes more, which is probably more then we have since we got into the ministry.  We ate three meals each day together, wow, we haven't even thought about three meals at regular times for years.   Through it all, 7 days, which included Valentine's Day, we were together.  Both dogs were there, snuggling as close as they could through the whole episode and probably having a better time then we could have imagined.  My wife treated me like a king.  Taking care of me and showing her love.  Today, I'm getting ready to try to go back to work, even though I know I need to take it easy.  But as I look back I see our Healer at work through the whole episode, healing our bodies and our hearts.  Even though flat on my back, and unable to even get up half the time or feeling like I was coughing my guts up numerous times, I truly believe that this was one of the best Valentine Days ever!!! God is good, all the time!!                                            God Bless and it's good to be back,  Rusty

Isaiah 40:26, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things ”

     The people of God in Isaiah’s time had blinded their minds’ ability to see God by looking on the face of idols. But Isaiah made them look up at the heavens; that is, he made them begin to use their power to think and to visualize correctly. If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in nature.  We will realize that it's holy and sacred. We'll see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades, if we will only begin to use our blinded thinking to visualize it.  The real test of spiritual focus is being able to bring your mind and thoughts under control. Is your mind focused on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself? Is it your work? Is it your idea of what a servant should be, or maybe your experience of salvation and sanctification? If so, then your ability to see God is blinded. You will be powerless when faced with difficulties and will be forced to endure in darkness. If your power to see has been blinded, don’t look back on your own experiences, but look to God. It is God you need. Go beyond yourself and away from the faces of your idols and away from everything else that has been blinding your thinking. Wake up and accept the ridicule that Isaiah gave to his people, and deliberately turn your thoughts and your eyes to God.  Focus your eyes on Jesus who is the author and finisher of faith. (Hebrews 12:2) Do it this morning in your prayer time.  Do it right now!     God Bless, Rusty 

Isaiah 65:5, " Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you! "

     Ever know any one that considered themselves holier than you?  God was furious with these people.  They were a rebellious bunch.  God is mentioned numerous times in the bible as the Holy One, the Holy One of Israel.  How many holy ones are there?  I think there is only one.  God is holy, we are not.  If this is the case, and it is, then why does the bible refer to us as saints, which means holy ones all through the New Testament?  It's a very simple question, but one that demands an answer.  How can we be holy ones if He is the only Holy One?  It all comes down to God's presence in us.  You see, Jesus is birthed inside of us when we are born again, just like He was in Mary.  The seed is planted and we become the womb, or in our case the temple in which Jesus lives.  He is Holy, we are not.  Our purpose in this world is to do our best to be conformed into the image of Jesus.  In other words, to let Him grow up inside of us.  But we have so much stuff inside of us that He can't grow.  The only way for Him to grow is for us to get rid of the junk inside. Every time we get rid of something He grows up a little more.  So, in order for Him to grow, we must get rid of our own life and let His grow.  This is humility.  Allowing God to have His way in our life.  Every time we say, "Not my will but yours, " humility grows in our life.  Holiness, therefore can only be measured in a persons life by the humility he walks in.  "We are holy and blameless before Him in love." (Eph 1:4)  We are only holy because of the one who lives inside of us.  He is holy.  As we empty ourselves and the baby becomes a man we will walk clothed with humility and the world will see God's holiness through us.  It's not something that we can put on ourselves.  What areas of your life come across as, "stay away from me because I'm holier than thou?"  If the world is to see Jesus, we must all stop trying to be holy and just obey God.  Let the Holy One grow up.  The world needs to see Him.  Amen!    God Bless, Rusty 

2 Timothy 4:6, "I'm already being poured out as a drink offering ”

     Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.
“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents—burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose—the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice  to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?     God Bless,  Rusty

Psalm 107:13+14, " They cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses.  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death."

     I remember in the book of Acts, how Paul's shadow feel on people and they received their healing.  I guess Paul's shadow was being thrown by the sun of righteousness that was raised with healing in His wings.  The other sun, the physical sun, in this physical world casts physical shadows of death.  Death that exists all around us and darkness that we can't escape while we walk in this world.  I guess that's really how God brings people out of darkness, by sending the light in.  If we will walk into the dark places with the shadow of light upon us, then we will be the light that can lead people home.  But there are times in this world when it gets so dark that we can't hardly see ourselves.  We can't even see ourselves because the god of this world just sends darkness to battle against us.  I believe that when his armies see the light they combat it by throwing as much darkness as they can toward the light to try to keep it from shining through.  Those are the times when we must just keep on believing and walking.  God will bring us out but we can't sit down and fret and worry.  We can't sit down and cry, "Oh woe is me!"  These are the times when we must WALK through the valley of the shadow of death.  God hears and God will deliver us.  Our job is to keep walking because even when it gets to dark for us to see, if we'll keep walking, the light can still lead others.  There might be people around us that see the light and can follow it even though we're having trouble.  By continuing to walk we can also be their light to come through the valley.  My point is this.  Even in the midst of the things going on in our own lives, if we maintain the joy of the Lord and know that He is faithful He'll bring us through.  He'll bring us through because He loves us and because there are other people following us who can't see on their own yet, who will come through because they are following us into His arms.  So get up and walk!  Get up and get back in the race!   It's not over yet!  God still has work to do.  God needs us!!    Amen.    God Bless,  Rusty

Mark 13:13, "And you will be hated by all on account of my name, but the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved."

     Brothers and sisters, we must continue the fight of faith no matter what.  We must continue to stand and never give in.  As a pastor, one of the biggest things I see today is people giving up and just throwing in the towel.  One of my favorite movie characters over the years is Rocky.  His life and story are, in many ways, a picture of the Christian walk.  He would train and train and then train some more.  That's a picture of going to church, going to bible studies, meditating and continually building our relationship with Jesus and other brothers and sisters in Christ.  He would work until he couldn't go any more and then do it over again.  If we are to endure to the end, this is the key.  The fight was just the end result of all the training.  Most Christians today want to live a fence sitting life.  You know, half in and half out.  When the battle comes, and it will, as long as we walk in this flesh, we will not stand a chance because our opponent is always in tip top shape.  The reason we get beat up so much is because we have not come to the place of full surrender.  Only in that place will we find the victory.  You see when the fight begins, Rocky took what the world could give him.  Sometimes he'd get beaten up and bruised, but he never gave up.  Sometimes he would get knocked down but he would get back up and stay in the fight.  He refused to lose.  He refused to go down.  He knew that what was in him was greater then what the opponent or the situation looked like.  We have the greater one in us, and no matter who the opponent, no matter what the situation, He will always bring us through, just like Rocky.  So don't throw in the towel when the road gets a little rough and you get beat up a little bit.  Hang in there and continue to fight.  Even when it looks like it's over, keep fighting.  Even when the situation looks to big, stand up and don't give in.  You cannot fail.  Your victory is already bought and paid for.  The fight is rigged.  Someone's already ensured your victory so stay firm and don't pick up stakes and run.  You have eternal salvation living in your heart.  Endue, Endure, endure and when it looks like it's over, get back up and fight.  NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!            God Bless,   Rusty 

Proverbs 18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue."

     Death and life, in fact everything that God has for us, is in the power of the tongue.  Our ability to speak God's word into a situation changes the situation, whether we can see it in the physical or not.  The word power here, I believe should have been translated authority.  Man was given all authority to rule on this earth.  He used his mouth to speak names onto the animals and to speak whatever God gave him to do.  He was God's man on the earth and God delegated to him the power to speak into every situation.  By speaking God's words he was to subdue the whole earth.  Man lost that authority, in fact Luke says he gave it away, but another man came and reclaimed it for us.  He then gave it back to us.  Not only did Jesus die to reclaim the authority man lost, but he took His word and wrote it down, through men inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Now we have the words of life that will subdue the whole earth.  All we have to do is speak them with faith as a mustard seed and they will become powerful weapons in our lives.  Not only to bring life, but to bring death.  It really comes down to what we believe and how we use our words.  If I say, " it will never work out,"  it won't!  If I say, "I'll never be healed, " I won't.  If I say, " I'll never make it,"  you won't.  "If you say unto the mountain be taken up and cast into the sea, and do not doubt in your heart, but believe what you say is going to happen, it shall be granted you." (Mark 11:23)  We need to all change the things we say.  It's a matter of life or death!!    God Bless,  Rusty

Luke 5:4+5, " He said to Simon' Put out in deep water and let down your nets for a catch.'  And Simon answered and said, ' Master, we have worked all night and caught nothing, but at your bidding I will let down the nets."

     There comes times in our lives when we come to an intersection of life.  In fact these intersections come at us every day.  We must stop and look both ways before we proceed.  First, we must look at truth as the world knows it.  Peter and his fellow fishermen had fished all night and caught nothing.  He knew that you couldn't catch fish during the day with a net.  They were washing their nets and ready to go home.  They were tired and hungry and ready to rest.  Jesus was not a fisherman, in fact he was a carpenter.  So, the truth was that to put out the nets was not a smart thing to do.  In fact all the people that were on shore would laugh at them because they knew the situation wasn't right to catch fish.  This lake was crystal clear during the day.  Fish could see a net coming a mile away.  All of this was truth that appeared in Peter's mind as he sat at the intersection wandering which way to go.  But as He looked in the other direction he saw the word of God.  It was plain and simple, "throw out your nets for a catch."  We must continually weigh both truths that we come across in life.  Which one is more important?  Which one matters more?  They were both truth.  One had truth in a physical world and one was received by faith.  The higher one can't be seen until we make the decision and turn that way.  Peter said, "At you bidding."  Bidding is the word rhema in the Greek.  It means the spoken word.  So do we listen to Jesus' word or our own understanding?  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."  It's our choice every day of our lives.  There is only one way to the town of Blessing.  It's following Jesus voice.  Which way will we proceed?     God Bless,  Rusty